In the winter of 1847, a bread riot erupted in the provincial
French town of Buzancais. Within a year, the entire country had slipped
into revolution, and the rest, one might say, is history. Or, as
historian Cynthia A. Bouton might say, the rest is memory. In
Interpreting Social Violence in French Culture, 1874-2008 Bouton takes
on the puzzling longevity of the Buzancais riot in French public
consciousness. Scholars, of course, have slipped Buzancais into larger
studies of French history for years, but Bouton is not interested in
writing a new history of the riot. Instead, she focuses on how and why
the tale of this relatively small-scale local disturbance became a
persistent feature of French national memory in the nineteenth and
twentieth centuries. At issue are the many narrative appropriations of
the events in 1847, which played out across 150 years not only in
historical scholarship, but also in literature, newspapers, dramatic
plays, and ultimately in comic strips and on television. Along the way,
the author reveals much about the ways in which these narratives, and
the media through which they were transmitted, both reflected and
transformed national culture.

The tale of Buzancais, we learn, developed through punctuated
moments of discussion strung across long periods of dormancy. To connect
these moments, Bouton identifies significant points in the story, such
as the seizure of a grain shipment or the killing of a local elite. In
so doing, she is able to trace a chain of memory by tracking the
continuities in various renditions of these plot points. At the same
time, Bouton highlights the ways in which the various narratives
proceeded from their immediate contexts by systematically examining such
themes as the role of women in the riot and the social tensions
underlying scenes of violence. By studying the changing interpretations
or omissions of gender and assessments of both the workers and peasants
who took part in the riot and the bourgeois elites who responded (or
failed to respond) to the crisis, Bouton is able to pull back the
curtain on the dynamics of French culture at key moments in the
country's history. Why has Buzancais drawn such attention? One
reason is that its story has never been the handmaiden of any one
ideological position. Because it involved the deeds (or misdeeds) of
characters from across the social spectrum, the story of the riot has
defied all attempts to control its narrative. It has been fodder for
radicals and conservatives, for social commentators and entertainers,
and for scholars and amateurs alike. As Bouton explains, "Buzancais
has served different narrators as an object for political debate, a
crime story, a morality play, or merely an engaging tale" (p. 205).
Furthermore, Bouton might argue that the timing of the riot is
significant. It occurred on the eve of 1848, but is often excluded from
traditional accounts of the Revolution. It was, in other words, a
peripheral event, which means that it has been able to stand apart as a
bellwether of later revolutions or as a touchstone for a range of fears
across modern France's anxiety-ridden history. Indeed, Bouton
reveals how the riot makes its appearance on the margins of great
crises: just before the Revolution of 1848 and just after the Paris
Commune, the First World War, and the 1968 youth movements. In her
epilogue, Bouton closes by pointing out that in 2008 the riot became a
way of talking about the 2005 riots in the French banlieues (suburbs).
The controversy, it would seem, is far from over, and the utility of
this tale has by no means expired.

Bouton's book speaks to a wide audience. Historians of modern
France will relish this well-crafted glimpse of the vagaries of national
memory, while non-specialists will learn much about the ways in which
collective memories evolve over time as both textual and visual
artifacts. Of special interest here is the author's discussion of
the impact of images and film, and the special power they hold for
shaping memory. For teachers of modern European history, Bouton's
crisp and accessible writing has great potential for helping students
grasp the internal workings of France's most turbulent history
through the telling and re-telling of this fascinating event. Some
readers may complain that the author's studious avoidance of taking
sides leaves her curiously unable to convey a sense of the
"real" Buzancais, but most will surely agree that
Bouton's account succeeds in delivering a deeper understanding of
the larger pastiche of modern France.